Stupidity

ARTICLES ABOUT STUPIDITY BY DATE - PAGE 2

Every now and then, one of our local miscreants decides to break into a retail establishment by waiting until the wee hours and climbing down its chimney with the hope of gaining entry for grand theft. Often these chimneys haven't been used in years; they're sealed off with brick and mortar, then stuccoed. Same for the burglar - boy, does he get stuccoed. When he realizes that he can't climb out of the chimney, panic sets in. Hours, even days can go by before someone hears his pleas for help and calls the cops.

I just happened to catch the opening ceremonies and Sept. 11 tribute prior to the Ravens-Steelers football game. It was a beautiful ceremony with a fantastic U.S. flag covering entire field. The organizers should be commended. Beautiful, that is, until it was marred by the ignorance and stupidity of a few Baltimore players who chose to keep their skull caps on while holding the massive flag. This makes me sick! Did the coaches, team officials or NFL executives not brief these players prior to the ceremony?

The Sun's recent editorial ("Cut, cap and empty gesture," July 20) is an insult to anyone who wants Washington to actually get serious about debt and deficit reduction. The House has passed a budget that the Senate refuses to discuss. The House has passed a proposal that would spark debate about what really needs to be done long-term to deal with our ever-increasing debt, and not only will the Senate not seriously discuss it, President Barack Obama has already said he would veto any such measure.

Why do the airlines allow all the passengers on a given flight to carry on luggage, winter coats (if it's that time of the year) and all manner of other stuff, regardless of the overhead space available to hold those items? I've been traveling a lot lately. If you fly at all, you know that many passengers with smaller suitcases, usually "rollaboards" (suitcases with wheels to make them easier to carry), take their suitcases on board to be stored in overhead compartments. They do this to avoid having to wait at baggage claim - for their luggage to return from Tahiti, where it was mistakenly sent - and to save the checked baggage frees many airlines charge.

Wait, frisking 6-year-old girls and making wheelchair-bound grandmothers take off their adult diapers isn't the best way to keep airlines safe? How about deciding not to search suspected terrorists? That's not smart either? Who knew? The Transportation Security Administration's absurd policy of random pat-downs was made to look silly once again today. CNN is reporting that a man somehow flew cross-country with a fraudulent boarding pass and without a valid ID. When FBI agents arrested Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi, they found he had a boarding pass for a different day with someone else's name on it. It was the flight crew who initially discovered Noibi's deceit, after other passangers complained about his smell.

There's a debate swirling in the country right now about the War Powers Act in relation to the war/non-war/"squirmish" in Libya. The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to cut funding for the Libyan war unless President Barack Obama seeks congressional approval 60 days after the start of hostilities, which the War Powers Act requires. About 60 percent of both House Republicans and Democrats supported this action, but the leadership of neither party did. This move has sparked strong denunciations of the War Powers Act from the hawkish factions of each party, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

In addition to making us miserable, the recent stretch of scorching weather seems to have affected our brains. The record heat — in the high 90s — not only makes it feel like the stultifying days of last summer, it also made some of us display the kind of brain-dead behavior usually reserved for the doldrums of August. How else can you explain these recent events: In the torpor of a 93 degree day, a 25-year-old Baltimore woman decides this would be a good time to teach her 14-year-old niece how drive by letting the teen wheel a van around Lake Montebello.

Lewis Black is a comic hurricane with a brain at the eye of the storm. Even as he enters a spasmodic fury that racks his body, twists his limbs and sets his glasses sliding down his face, the truth of what he says — for example, "The Democrats are the party of no ideas, and the Republicans are the party of bad ideas!" — sets you free to laugh and feel and think. Underneath all the convulsions is a no-nonsense sort of mensch. So it's not surprising that when the angriest comic alive learned that he was the American Visionary Art Museum 's 2011 "Grand Visionary," his reaction was — "What the [expletive]

It is no wonder people have no respect for politicians when politicians habitually show no respect for them. Beyond question, the best form of redistricting, both in terms of administrative efficiency for congressmen or candidates and in terms of actual representation for citizens with common concerns, would make all eight Maryland congressional districts compact and coherent. For example, there would be a single district comprising Baltimore City and inner ring suburbs. Instead, Baltimore is chopped up among three districts, all of which are strung out to a ridiculous length across the state.

It's become a commonplace to equate Americans' sour mood with economic hard times, at least since Bill Clinton's "It's the economy, stupid" in 1992, and before that Jimmy Carter's 1979 "crisis of confidence. " Indeed, the nation's current unhappiness and anger are widely attributed to the worst economy since the Great Depression. After all, weren't happy days here again, at least for many, in Ronald Reagan's mid-1980s and President Clinton's late 1990s? And, who rightfully wouldn't be unhappy if they lost a job, took a pay cut, watched the stock and housing markets collapse, and saw their benefits dwindle?